Practicing Congregation

Churches change

Posted on
Dec 03, 2018

Churches change about every seven years.

That’s what a long-term pastor told me 30 years ago while I was in seminary. Rick was a visiting fellow on campus as part of his third sabbatical. For 21 years he had served his congregation and was using the sabbatical to prepare for another seven years.

Lessons learned bring 'remarkable change'

Thirty years later I have learned a valuable lesson from this game: labor, whether in adulthood careers or childhood schoolwork, requires recess moments. God understands this as well, hence, the Sabbath. As a kid gym and recess were my times to “cut loose” and enjoy myself. As an adult, Sunday worship is such a moment.

Fall Programming

Posted on
Sep 14, 2018

Whether your congregation has a full slate lined up, or you are preparing to open your whole children’s department in a single classroom, fall programming is a vestige of 20th-century American Christianity—and I’m not just talking about the bright colored construction paper stapled to a bulletin board.

When you are ready to do more than talk, let's talk

Posted on
Jun 30, 2018

Near the end of a conversation I was having with an African American pastor, he said, "When you're ready to do more than talk, let's talk." As a white pastor of a predominantly white congregation, I had earned those words.

In some ways I was more hopeful about the Church becoming a place of racial reconciliation when I graduated from seminary 30 years ago than I am today. Though maybe naiveté was just masquerading as hope.